Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1887-01-15
ROADS AND ROAD WORKING

EDITOR INTELLIGENCER: - Having
noticed in the last issue of your valua-
BILE paper that our county court has
authorized the county commissioners to
estimate the EOS of working the roads
Of the county by townships, by contract,
stimulates a desire on my part to make
pnblic some ideas about
ROADS AND ROAD WORKING.
The roads OF a country are certain
tests OF its degree Of civilization. A
person travelling i'll a strange country
almost certainly forms his estimate OF
the thrift and industry and g~caheada-
tiyeness of it's Inhabitants by their
roads, of course taking into
consideration the length OF time
the country has been settled. The
roads are the arteries and veins OF the
country, for through them flow the
agricultural productions to the markets,
aud returning the commercial supplies
which are the life blood OF the slate.
This being the case, then we may easily
see the importance of good roads. An
illustration may not be out OF place.
Suppose a farmer living from ten to
fifteen miles from Lexington wishes to
haul his corn 10 that market and can
get fifty cents per bushel for the corn.
That distance he can make but II load
per day ,andcan haul 30 bushels at a load,
the road being i'll d condition to allow
no greater load with safety to wagon or
team. He receives 16 dollars for his
corn. Now with q road in first class
condition in every respect the q
would dra " so bushels with about the
same ease, and he would receive 20
dollars for the load. Now If the SER
vices OF the driver and team are worth
3 dollars per day, it would cost ~ emit
per bushel for the 80 bushels and b cents
for the 90 bushels. or a loss Of two
dollars per day by hauling the small
loads. How many farmers are aware
OF the amount OF x they pay in this
way? 1t is impossible to get all one
might wish to say about roads in a
newspaper article. l will pass to the
defects of the poll a system OF work
ing the roads. The appointment OF
overseers: When menof suitable ability,
knowledge and experience have beer
once obtained they should be continued
in office. Generally, as soon as the
overseer has learned something in his
years apprenticeship his experience is
lost and another takes his place and
begins to take lessons in repairing
roads at the expense OF their condition.
In other occupations all apprenticeship
of come years is thought necessary be-
fore q person is considered qualified to
practice with his own capital; while a
road overseer, the moment he IL select
ed, is thought fit to direct q work re-
curing much science, at the expense OF
the peoples capital OF time. labor and
money.
The fundamental principle of the poll
tax is a wrong one. Work paid for by
the piece Is preferable to compulsory
labor by the day. Men are taken from
their occupations in which they are
skilled, and placed at n OF which they
know little or nothing. A good plow-
nan does not think himself necessarily
competent to make his plow. He
knows it is better economy to pay a
mechanic for his services. But the law
assumes him to be q skilltul road maker
and compels him to act as one; while
his road plumbers are injurious to the
whole community. Labor by the day
is always less profitable than that done
by the piece, i'll which each mans skill
and industry receive proportiOnate re-
wards. Working on the roads is gen.
orally made a sort of holiday by those
who assemble at the warning Of the
overseer. Few of the men or horses
| do more than a half days work, the re-
malnder of the time being spent in idle
| pess, or, perhaps half OF even the work
ing time being wasted by misdirection.
| But it is easier to expose the defects
| than to remove them. A general leg.
| islatlve act should establish all the de-
| tails. of construction and determine
what a road ought to be, according to
| the theory and practice OF the best
| engineers. Surveys of all the leading
| roads should be made and plans aud
profiles of them prepared, in order to
see how they could be most efficiently
and cheaply improved.
The personal labor should be abolish
| ed. IT the county would vote a tax in
money of half the amount now levied
in days work, and expended under the
supervision of a professional roadmak-
er of science and experience, would
produce a result superior to the present
one. The county should appoint as
this road maker, a person of known
skill and experience. The engineer
thus appointed should choose, in each
township, an active, Industrious man
rs his deputy and foreman. This
deputy, when not in charge of the
laborers on the roads, should occupy
the remainder of the year in constantly
passing over the roads and making,
himself, the slight repairs necessary. If
taken in time, he, himself. could per-
form them; but If LETT unattended to, as
is usual, till the season OF general re-
pairs, the services of several men and
considerable time would be necessary.
The laborers hired by the deputy should
be employed by piece work. When
the work cannot be properly executed
by portions allotted to one, it may be
taken by gangs OF 8 or 5 or more, who
could take the contract and divide the
pay. Fearing that this article is grow
ing to too great a length, l will close by
saying that ii anything 1 have said In
this sketch, necessarily crude, should
be thought worthy of investigation,
will give some more elaborate reasons
for the faith that ID in me, in the
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